The Wedding of Alexander
by Baliansword
Summary: A narrative or PoV of what Hephaestion saw and felt on Alexander's wedding day. No sexual content. However, still a good read. Review please.


**Title:** "The Wedding of Alexander"

**Author:** Baliansword

**Rating: **T for teen

**Type: **One Shot

**Pairings: **None really, just some fluff between Alexander and Hephaestion at the ending of the story. There is no sex though.

**Summary:** A PoV; What Hephaestion saw and felt on Alexander's wedding day. This could also be a bit of a narrative as well. Depends on how you look at it.

**Warnings:** None really. Just beware of Hephaestion's pain.

**A/N: **Hello everyone. Here is the newest thing I have been working on. I hope that you like it and review it. I always like to hear what you all say.

**Dedication:** For Mrs. Cirzan, my English teacher. I really am sorry for writing in your class, however, I swear that I still pay attention. Also, for Mary, because you read all of these and comment on my ideas.

**H/N: **This story takes place in Bactra, where Alexander married Roxanne, which was rather controversial, as shall be explained below.

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I knew a man once who said that all great men knew their fates. He went even further as to say that we all know our destiny. When he told me this I was but a boy. I did not believe Aristotle then. Even now I cannot say that I believe such words even though I respect the man. When it comes to destiny there is but one thing I know. I know that I never knew my own fate. Even to this day I do not know what my tomorrow will bring. I only know the fate of one man. I did as a boy and I do today. Instead of knowing my own fate, I know Alexander's. I knew it as a boy and I know it still to this day.

He always spoke of the day he would conquer Persia, and I always believed him. It was his dream, but really his fate. I suppose it was is date that bound us. Alexander was meant to cross the world, and in my love for him, I was destined to follow him. Our love bound us, as his fate bound him to a certain responsibility. This responsibility was his duty to his kingdom, and later to his grand empire. There were things I knew, even as a boy, and I knew most of all Alexander's responsibility.

There is much one needs to be a king. It is also safe to say that Alexander had these qualities by his fifteenth year. He knew how to inspire the men he would lead, even as boys, and even now. He could give forgiveness but also give out a punishment. But there was one thing that always worried me when others did not think of it. I feared for the day I would lose him. I do not even mean in battle, for that is a completely different worry. I worried instead for losing him to a bride, a wife that he will surely need for his heirs.

I knew for years that he would marry. I knew it was just a matter of time. Never did it leave the back of my mind. I understood it all along. As a king he'd need a queen and I could never be this. Never even could I give him a son. So knowing this, that he would wed, I understood why. It was an heir that he would need. It was an heir my love could not supply him. But never did I expect for things to happen as they did…….

"Hephaestion," he spoke my name on that early morning day. I looked up from my writing, a letter I was correcting for him, one which was to be sent to his mother. He entered the room as he always does, in complete beauty. His golden hair framed his neck and his wondrous face. There was light in his eyes, always living, as he entered with a smile. As soon as he was in the room he shut the door quickly and sat upon my bed.

"What is it," I then asked him. I had not seen him excited in some time. I could only wonder what news he'd already received so early in the morning. Perhaps there was another revolt. He loved revolts, my Alexander, for he got to crush them. I even smiled slightly.

"Oh Hephaestion," he let out with a breath. "I have found my wife. I have found her here, in Bactra."

My heart sank then. What had he just said? If I had heard him right, he had just told me that he found a wife. It was hard to believe that. It was hard to hear. It was even harder to know that it was something truthful. He really had found a wife. There could not be a joke like this. Alexander then sat up. Still he was gleaming as if this was all that he needed in life. A wife, a woman, something that I knew I could not be. Yet even as he stared at me, I remember that I had to understand. I did understand. So this was the day that I would lose him. I was losing him, yet I could not stop him from going, for how could I reach out and grab him now when he seemed so far gone?

"Roxanne," he then said, smiling. "She reminds me of my mother, for some odd reason. She is exotic, Hephaestion. There is something about her that I cannot wrap my mind around. Yet she is young, and she would be a fine wife I believe. Hephaestion, say something."

"Roxanne," the then said, repeating her name. I knew her well enough. I saw her, just last night, dancing before him. I could see at least why she had caught his eye. She was breathtaking I suppose, for what she was. She was a woman, from Bactra, but apart from that she was nothing special I suppose. Alexander nodded and then went on, not even realizing that I was still taken aback by all of this.

"Think of it," Alexander went on. "If I marry her I would secure our alliance with these people. It will be a marriage in good faith. Perhaps I could even have the men, those without wives in Persia, take a wife here as well. You could too, of course. What do you think?"

I was still thinking things through. I was his lover, his closest advisor, and I would answer him. Yet I was still thinking, and still, I felt as if I were dying. I thought of what a wife was though. I had my own wife in Persia, waiting for me. I wondered what I wife meant to Alexander, for my idea of a wife was different. My wife still was likely waiting for me to come to her bed, as I should have on our wedding night. I took her as a wife, for Alexander wished our children to be like sons to one another, and I took her for it was his wish. It was what he required of me. Yet I still could not bring myself to go to her bed. I still could not make myself a husband to her, for I did not love her. The one I loved, the man that I loved, sat before me now.

"It would strengthen the empire," I slowly told him. "It would strengthen your relationship with the Bactran people. Roxanne is a favored woman here. You can tell just by the way she carried herself. But, Alexander, the Macedonians are not going to understand this. They are your men. They come from your home. When you took Darius' daughter as a wife, you did not name her a queen. This they did not mind. Yet, if you are to take a queen, they are going to wish her to be Macedonian, of your own blood. They will not understand it if you want Roxanne as a queen. They are going to tell you to take her as a concubine, and nothing more."

"You think," Alexander asked me after a moment. He did not seem to care what others thought though. Then again, he never did care what others thought. It was something he had never cared for since he was a boy, that being the opinion of others. Apart from me, that was, and was apparent when he looked at me again.

I was trying not to let my emotions show. I wanted to cry though. I wanted to scream, and to cry, and for a moment I felt like dying. If Alexander saw it in my face, he saw it in my eyes. On more that one occasion he told me that my eyes would never lie for me. He looked at me though and then leaned closer to me. He placed a hand against my cheek and then placed his lips against mine. Oh, I wanted to die, knowing that he was going to leave me. He was going to have a queen, and sons, and I would be only in his memory.

"I want to know what you think," he then whispered against my cheek. He pulled away then and his eyes met mine. He wanted to know what I thought? How could he even ask me that? Did he truly not know? I paused for a moment. He did not need to know what my heart felt. He already knew that this was killing me. I could see it in his eyes. I knew then what he wanted. He wanted me to lie to him. He wanted for me to say that it was okay, for then, I knew he would not feel as bad about the situation. At least, I hoped my reasoning was correct.

"What do you think," he then whispered to me again.

"I think it is good," I answered quietly. It took everything in my power not to cry. It took everything in my power not to shake. It took everything I had not to let my voice crack right there. Alexander continued to look at me though. "I think, she is good for you Alexander. She'll give you a son."

He then wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly. I tried not to cry as I wrapped my arms around him. I held him tightly and felt him against me. I had already memorized his touch, his smell, everything about him. Yet I found myself doing it again. He was so perfect. He was everything that I wanted, and for the first time, I feared he was the one thing I was not going to get. Was this my destiny, to love, and then to let go?

"Thank you," Alexander said as he held me. He whispered it in my ear. I held him, and I loved him, and I understood. After a moment I knew that I was the only one that was going to understand. I knew the others would not. Only a moment later, before I even could collect my thoughts, we were before that very council that I feared would not understand. Alexander told them, but not as he told me. Instead, he announced it to them. There was no room to question him.

Cassander was the only one that was willing to argue with him. He learned quickly not to as well. I on the other hand stood at the back of the room. I had wrapped myself in a coat made of thick fur, hoping that it would stop my trembling. I do not think it did though, for shortly after Alexander and I left the room, he commented that I was shaking. I merely wrapped my arms over my chest as I walked beside him down the hall.

"Two days," he said as we walked. I thought he was rushing into this. Two days and then there would be a wedding on the third. However, what could I say? I merely nodded. It seemed I could not speak to him at all. It was not that I had nothing to say. It was instead that I had nothing I could say to him without letting him down. He wanted me to be strong. No, not even that, for he did not want me to be strong. He needed me to be strong.

For two days I did not speak to him it seemed. I spent most of the two days in my room, preparing myself to let him go. He did not come to me, and I did not go to him. I do not think that you can understand what loss feels like if you have not had a loss such as this. I slept through the second day I believe though. When I woke on the third day I cried. I had not even got out of bed yet, and I cried. When no tears would come though, I quickly dressed. I lined my eyes with the black coal liner I had been given though, hoping that I would not cry. Then, knowing that Alexander would summon for me if I did not come, I left my room and went to find comfort in his room.

"Hephaestion," he smiled as I entered the room. I looked at him. As always he was beautiful. I only wished that I would not have to see him so lovely before he wed her. Smiling softly, even if I did not mean it, I sat down before him.

"You look perfect," I said. He put a hand under my chin and lifted my head so that he could meet my gaze. He then leaned forward and kissed me. It was a kiss deeper than any I had ever known. After a moment the kiss ended though. I merely blinked and then, I was standing in the crowd, watching him take her hand. I felt as if I were going to cry. I knew that I wanted to. However, I truly hoped I could be strong for him.

"I, Alexander," he said loudly so that all could hear. At least all of us in the front could hear him. Those that continued into the horizon like a sea, I was not sure of. Yet I heard it. I heard it all. "I Alexander, take Roxanne as my Queen. May we live in happiness, and may she give me an heir."

He then did something I did not think he was going to do. He turned himself slightly out to the audience. It was then that he looked at me. I could see the pain in his eyes. It was pain from seeing me, seeing the single tear that I let fall down my cheek. Then, he continued his vow, but it was not a vow to her. It was a vow given to me. It was one that I would never forget either. For Alexander was not marrying her at that moment, he was marrying me.

"I shall always honor," he said, "and cherish the one before me, the one that gives me life, and the one that keeps my heart."

There was a feast held after that. I went, as I was supposed to. I sat down quietly and watched the feast carry on. It was Alexander that I kept my eye on though. Roxanne sat there as if she were bored. I could not see what he saw in her then. She was nothing like him. She could not even understand him. Alexander, on the other hand, was smiling. He looked up once during the feast and saw me. He smiled, but it was not a smile. Instead, it was more of a plea for forgiveness. Swallowing the knot in my throat, I then nodded at him. I forgave him, I had to, for had I not known this would come all along?

He left though, soon after the feast began. All knew that he was supposed to take Roxanne to his bed. He left without her though, telling her that he would wait for her. She seemed to be looking at offerings that had been brought for them. Even I had contributed my amount of gold. That was not, however, my true gift. As Alexander left my eyes followed him. Oh, my dearest Alexander. I could not believe that I was going to lose him. Yet, I could not believe that I was going to stand up and follow him. I stood, and I slipped out of the room. No one seemed to follow me. No one even seemed to notice. Why would they?

I went down that dark hallway and I found his room. It was not hard. I had been there so many times before. I placed my hand on the door but then froze. I could not believe what I was going to do. After a moment I opened the door and entered the room. Alexander looked up, and already I knew he had been pacing. I could tell that he was expecting Roxanne. I however was not her. He seemed glad enough though.

"Hephaestion," he said as he approached. He stopped though when I glanced up at him. There were tears in my eyes, tears that burned more than he could know. It was then that I gave him the gift I had truly gotten him. I'd gotten it long ago in Egypt, a ring, and it represented the sun. It represented him, and my love for him, and I told him all of this. I then looked up at him, and I told him that I wished him a son, for I did.

"Phae," he whispered. "You are too good for me."

It was then that his arms were around me. He kissed me deeply, and I clung to him as I never had before. Oh, how I never wanted to leave him. I continued to kiss him. My lips pressed hard against his, hard and demanding, but at the same time tender and loving. He had always said I would never lose him. He'd sworn that we would always be together, and that nothing would change that. I had always believed it. Even now, I still hoped it was true. It was as I hoped this though that the door opened, and Roxanne entered. I stepped away from Alexander. I let him go then.

I returned to my room then. There was nothing else for me to do. I undressed before my bed, crying all the while. Before lying down I felt as if I were going to vomit. I could not breathe. I could not think. I made it to a chamber pot before spilling out my guts. I then returned to my bed, and I cried myself to sleep. I could only dream of him though.

Somewhere in the middle of the night he came to me though. He crawled into bed beside me and wrapped his arms around me. It caused me to wake. I thought for a moment that he smelled like her. I pushed that out of my mind though. Instead, I thought only of the fact that Alexander was with me. I turned to face him and he pressed his lips to mine. He did this even before I knew that he was crying. I looked at him, and with my eyes I asked why.

"I love you," he whispered before pressing another kiss to my lips. That was all that he said though. He could say no more. I did not need him to either. That was all that I wanted to hear. I wrapped my arms around him, and I fell asleep, as did he. We loved one another. There was nothing better than that. That is all that there is to know about the wedding of Alexander the Great.

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ENFIN

A/N: Review. Let me know what you think.


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